“I started playing this game when I was 8 years old,” Mawae said. “I never in my wildest dreams ever thought I’d be a Hall of Famer. It was never a goal of mine. I just loved the game. I wanted to play it the best I could possibly play it. I did that at Leesville High School and at LSU and in my time in the NFL. It’s surreal.”

The wait until Hall of Fame director David Baker came to inform Mawae and his family that the vote had indeed gone his way was wearing him. He was trying to pass the time by playing a game on his cell phone when the good news was delivered.

“I told my wife, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it this year,’” Mawae said. “I’m sitting there playing this game and I got the knock. It surprised me so much that I literally jumped out of the chair and threw my phone across the room. I looked at my wife and her face had the same look as mine and we both started crying. I was boo-hooing and I opened the door and there was Mr. Baker. I just fell into his arms.”

Mawae played 16 seasons with the Seahawks, Jets and Titans, earning eight Pro Bowl selections, three first-team All-Pro selections. His best years were with the Jets, where he started all 118 games, earned two of his first-team All-Pro selections and made a huge impression on Parcells.

"I know that I wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for him," Martin said. "I think that he is – the only other center of my era that I know that I’d put in the same category as him is Dermontti Dawson. Those are my two favorite guys. Kevin was more like a fullback playing center, and I think that he was the Saquon Barkley of centers. What Saquon is as a running back, that’s what he was as a center."

In 241 career games, Mawae proved to be incredibly durable – he played in 177 consecutive games during one stretch. He was a first-team, all-decade center for the 2000s.

Mawae blocked for a 1,000-yard rusher in 13 of his 16 seasons. Running backs Chris Warren (1,545 yards in 1994), Martin (1,697 in 2004), LenDale White (1,110 in 2007) and Johnson (2,006 in 2009) had the highest season rushing totals of their career with Mawae on the line.

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“There wasn’t a block that he couldn’t execute or master, whether it was a back block on a 350-pound nose guard or reach-blocking a shaded nose guard," former Giants center Shaun O’Hara said of Mawae. “He was big on pulling out on a lot of outside plays, which not a lot of centers could do. And he was a very tough guy, and the fact he played as long as he did was a testament to his work ethic and durability. He is absolutely a Hall of Famer in my mind. He is one of the best centers to ever play the game, so I am certainly pulling for him this weekend. I know he’ll get it. It is not a question of if, it is really just when.”

"There’s no secret that with eight years in New York I’m a New York Jet. I bleed green and white."

Green and white, and now for Mawae, a gold jacket.

Email: stapleton@northjersey.com

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